Campaign

For any scientific skeptics out there who, like to debunk myths surrounding science with evidence! The folks at Voice of Young Science have been back in touch with the following. We’re always looking for enthusiastic and principled people at Sense About Science – as is science as a discipline in general – and your expertise in particular areas really can help us in our myth busting mission. Please take advantage of this fantastic opportunity if you want to engage in scientific activism.

Manchester workshop
We’re headed to Manchester to run another Standing up for Science media workshop on Friday 27th March at the University of Manchester. The workshop is for early career researchers and scientists in all sciences, engineering and medicine. Apply now – see the flyer for further information, or share with friends and colleagues.

Cochrane student competition
The next Cochrane UK & Ireland Symposium is going to be held in Dublin on 23rd & 24th April the theme is ‘advocating for evidence’. As part of their symposium they are running a competition to produce a press pack. The winners will receive symposium registration, Amazon tokens and the winning entries will be published on the Students 4 Best Evidence blog. Deadline: 16th February.

This year the AHS societies from all the around the UK joined in non-prophet week to raise money for the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust. This charitable endeavour aims to allow pupils to get the most out of their education and in total raised £2,374 for the Humanist Schools Trust! We would like to say thank you to everyone that took part, including our fantastic volunteers, and all those who donated, because your generosity has helped hundreds on children to receive a better education.

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Ask for Evidence is now live at Sense About Science. Some of our supporters include Dara O’Brien, Prof Anne Glover, and Derren Brown (who would probably also asks you to question such ‘celebrity’ endorsements!). This service allows you to ask experts for evidence, and essentially how to understand that evidence, on subjects as diverse as neuroscience and your 5 a day.

At a time when the British population say religion causes more harm than good, this is an excellent chance for people to be involved in ushering in a new age of positive change. In light of new polling by the HuffingtonPost, our very own Andrew Copson comments: “This survey just confirms what we know is the common sense of people in Britain today – that whether you are religious or not has very little to do with your morality.” It’s also the case that vast swathes of the public today identify as non-religious based on the British Social Attitudes Survey. So whilst even universities and Student’s Unions seem to tacitly, and sometimes openly privilege religious student’s opinions (LSE Cartoon scandal, gender segregation, and all manner of faith initiatives), it’s up to you to make the non-religious viewpoint heard, and help our message of equality, compassion, and critical thinking make an enduring impact.

WHAT IS NON-PROPHET WEEK?

Non – Prophet Week is a week where irreligious people, in whatever form, unite to raise money for a charitable cause. In some years people have planted trees, donated blood and collected clothes to give to a charity shop as alternatives to or alongside fundraising. Fundraising is this years preference, as planting a tree, whilst good for the environment, is little use to a school in Uganda.

#NONPROPHETWEEK:

You can get involved and share ideas on Twitter via the hash-tag #nonprophetweek.

The AHS’ Social Media and Marketing Officer, Cloe Ansari, will be tweeting some of your ideas and helping to publicize what you guys do throughout the week!

WHAT IS THE CHOSEN CHARITY?

This year the AHS has chosen the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust. We will be raising money for a specific project or two that the charity urgently needs funding for, which will allow the pupils to get the most out of their education. Selecting the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust as our charity this year means we can all be sure that we are making an active and practical difference. It allows us to give the greatest gift of all: a better education.

HOW DO I DONATE?

Virgin Money Giving is similar to JustGiving, but much cheaper for charities. JustGiving is for-profit and takes 5%, VMG is not-for-profit and takes 2% which is of course, of greater benefit to all involved.

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New skeptical literature and campaign materials (2013-2014) courtesy of Chris Malburn. Let a committee member know if you’d like a copy of any of these publications, and remember to share the love if you already have one! We’re also thinking of setting up a Skeptical Library so if there are any books you’d like to read please post their titles in the comments section or on social media. Such titles could include:

God is Not Great – Christopher Hitchens

The End of Faith – Sam Harris

Land of our Fathers: The Roles of Ancestor Veneration in Biblical Land Claims – Francesca Stavrakopoulou

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Join Students 4 Best Evidence (S4BE) and help update health evidence on Wikipedia!

S4BE are planning an exciting week (15th-19th September) of blogs, resources and tutorials, culminating in a LIVE Wiki Editathon, online and at the UK Cochrane Centre on the 16th September.

Cochrane has recently joined forces with Wikipedia in a partnership to get more Cochrane health evidence on Wikipedia. To celebrate this, S4BE want to get students involved in this partnership as they know Wikipedia is a key student resource.